Castlevania AGA for Amiga Receives Major Update, Delivering Refined Experience to Retro Gaming Fans
For over three decades, Castlevania has captured the imagination of gamers as one of Konami’s most enduring and beloved action-platformer franchises.
Originally released on the Famicom Disk System in 1986, the vampire-hunting series rapidly expanded its reach, making its way onto numerous consoles and home computer platforms.
While many fans fondly remember the original adventure, not all ports successfully recaptured the magic — notably, Novotrade’s 1990 Commodore Amiga version fell short of expectations, sparking disappointment among the Amiga community due to its inferior graphics and gameplay compared to even its 8-bit predecessors. Fast forward to today, and Amiga enthusiasts have reason to celebrate.
Indie developer Dante Retro Dev has delivered a substantial update to Castlevania AGA, a passion project aimed at revitalizing the Castlevania experience on classic Amiga hardware.
Utilizing the Scorpion Engine and graphics assets inspired by the Sharp X68000 version, Dante Retro Dev has created an updated remake that reinvents the original title with a distinct Amiga flavor — while steering clear of direct ports from later entries such as PlayStation’s Castlevania Chronicles. In a recent project update, Dante Retro Dev confirmed, "The CD32 version is now synchronized with the main A1200 edition released earlier this July.
Additionally, a new introduction and brief lore sequence have been incorporated to enhance the overall experience." This latest demo, which launched on itch.io just in time for Halloween, enriches the game significantly.
It adds levels 10 through 15, introduces new enemy types, and reintroduces bosses that had been absent in previous builds.
The enhanced visuals evoke the style of Castlevania Chronicles and later series entries, elevating the aesthetic well beyond typical 8-bit fare, yet maintaining the core gameplay that defined the original. Players can enjoy this update either on authentic Amiga hardware — specifically, an Amiga 1200 or CD32 — or via compatible emulators.
These new features, paired with the spirit of iterative community-driven development, signal a renewed appreciation for the Amiga’s role in gaming history and for Konami’s legacy title. Summing up the approach on the project’s official page, the developer describes Castlevania AGA as, "A remake of the 1987 original enhanced by the art direction of titles like Castlevania Chronicles, designed to offer a pure and playable experience while feeling native to the Amiga platform." Though not a direct port of the Sharp X68000 or PlayStation versions, Castlevania AGA skillfully leverages assets from across the series’ history, creating a practical vision of how the original game would look and play on a 16-bit or 32-bit system. With the updated demo freely available for download, Castlevania fans old and new can once again tackle Dracula’s castle — now with a fresh layer of polish and content that honors both Konami’s legacy and the enduring passion of the retro development community.
Originally released on the Famicom Disk System in 1986, the vampire-hunting series rapidly expanded its reach, making its way onto numerous consoles and home computer platforms.
While many fans fondly remember the original adventure, not all ports successfully recaptured the magic — notably, Novotrade’s 1990 Commodore Amiga version fell short of expectations, sparking disappointment among the Amiga community due to its inferior graphics and gameplay compared to even its 8-bit predecessors. Fast forward to today, and Amiga enthusiasts have reason to celebrate.
Indie developer Dante Retro Dev has delivered a substantial update to Castlevania AGA, a passion project aimed at revitalizing the Castlevania experience on classic Amiga hardware.
Utilizing the Scorpion Engine and graphics assets inspired by the Sharp X68000 version, Dante Retro Dev has created an updated remake that reinvents the original title with a distinct Amiga flavor — while steering clear of direct ports from later entries such as PlayStation’s Castlevania Chronicles. In a recent project update, Dante Retro Dev confirmed, "The CD32 version is now synchronized with the main A1200 edition released earlier this July.
Additionally, a new introduction and brief lore sequence have been incorporated to enhance the overall experience." This latest demo, which launched on itch.io just in time for Halloween, enriches the game significantly.
It adds levels 10 through 15, introduces new enemy types, and reintroduces bosses that had been absent in previous builds.
The enhanced visuals evoke the style of Castlevania Chronicles and later series entries, elevating the aesthetic well beyond typical 8-bit fare, yet maintaining the core gameplay that defined the original. Players can enjoy this update either on authentic Amiga hardware — specifically, an Amiga 1200 or CD32 — or via compatible emulators.
These new features, paired with the spirit of iterative community-driven development, signal a renewed appreciation for the Amiga’s role in gaming history and for Konami’s legacy title. Summing up the approach on the project’s official page, the developer describes Castlevania AGA as, "A remake of the 1987 original enhanced by the art direction of titles like Castlevania Chronicles, designed to offer a pure and playable experience while feeling native to the Amiga platform." Though not a direct port of the Sharp X68000 or PlayStation versions, Castlevania AGA skillfully leverages assets from across the series’ history, creating a practical vision of how the original game would look and play on a 16-bit or 32-bit system. With the updated demo freely available for download, Castlevania fans old and new can once again tackle Dracula’s castle — now with a fresh layer of polish and content that honors both Konami’s legacy and the enduring passion of the retro development community.
